Thursday, September 22, 2011

Google's antitrust hearing
on Capitol Hill today is forcing the company to answer all sorts of
uncomfortable questions about its prized search engine algorithm—answers
that don't necessarily jive with arguments it's made previously about
its ubiquitous website ranking system. For instance, The Wall Street Journal
quotes Matt Cutts, a chief search engineer at Google, saying that the
search engine's "rankings are 'opinions' and are 'entitled to full
constitutional protection." For those who've followed the company over
the years, the word "opinions" should jut out like a red flag. In
previous statements, the company has characterized its search results as
an emotionless, algorithmic representation of information. "Our users
trust our objectivity and no short-term gain could ever justify
breaching that trust," reads the company's corporate statement on
PageRank. That depiction has been a handy way to fend off critics of
the site's search results who would like its ranking system changed.

A precise example of this played out yesterday when long-shot GOP
presidential contender Rick Santorum contacted Google to resolve his Google-bomb problem.
For the uninitiated, sex columnist Dan Savage had created a rather lewd
meaning for Santorum that has tricked Google's algorithms into placing
its rank as number one every time you search "Rick Santorum."
Responding to Santorum's demand to "get rid of it," Google pleaded
innocent. "Google’s search results are a reflection of the content and
information that is available on the web. Users who want content removed
from the Internet should contact the webmaster of the page directly," a
Google spokesperson said.

Unfortunately, for Google, if it wants to start depicting its search
algorithm as an "opinion" rather than an automated formula, that brings
with it the responsibility of defending its decisions, which would
techinically include explaining why a "frothy mix of lube and fecal
matter" is the best result for Rick Santorum. For a corporation getting cozier with Republicans, that's gonna be a tough sell....MORE